This article is part of our DraftKings MLB series.
Thursday night I'm shipping up to Boston (where I will be seeing a Red Sox game, naturally), but first, the MLB DFS recommendations. There are only five games on the evening schedule, with the first pitch at 7:05 p.m. ET. Before you get your lineups in, here are some names to consider from these matchups.
Pitching
Bryan Woo, SEA vs. DET ($9,000): Seattle's ballpark is kind to pitchers. Woo is a great example of that. In his career, he has a 4.15 ERA on the road, but a 2.26 ERA at home. Though the Tigers are unremarkably below average in terms of runs scored, they are one of three teams with a sub-.300 on-base percentage (OBP).
Nestor Cortes, NYY vs. LAA ($7,900): Due to the rain-caused doubleheader Wednesday, Cortes has had his start pushed to Thursday. The key is that he is still at home. He has a 6.08 ERA on the road, but a 2.48 ERA at home. Over the last three seasons, he has a 2.64 ERA at home, so there is a track record here. It seems like the five teams that will finish in the bottom five in runs scored have been decided. Yes, the Angels are one of them.
Top Target
He's fallen out of the MVP race, but Alec Bohm ($4,800) has had an excellent season at the plate. Twelve homers won't cut it for some MVP voters, but the righty has hit .298 and has tallied a whopping 40 doubles. He also has a .881 OPS on the road. Jordan Montgomery's move to the Diamondbacks has been a fiasco. He has an 8.39 ERA at home. Righties have hit .330 against him.
Bargain Bats
Since 2022, Josh Lowe ($3,800) has a .798 OPS against righties, and also a .838 OPS on the road. Injuries have kept him from replicating his breakthrough 2023 season, when he had over 30 doubles and 30 stolen bases. When he has played, however, he's delivered. Kyle Gibson doesn't allow many home runs, but a 36-year-old doesn't have a career 4.51 ERA because he's tamping down the opposition. Indeed, he has a 4.92 ERA at home this season. Over the last three years, lefties have hit .273 against him.
You can count on Daulton Varsho ($3,200) to finish a campaign with a sub-.300 OBP, but also to tally the counting stats. This season he has 13 homers, 10 stolen bases and six triples. He's slugged .437 at home this year as well. Dean Kremer has been heading in the wrong direction on the mound. This year his FIP is up to 4.80, and he's allowed 1.58 homers per nine innings.
Stack to Consider
Orioles at Blue Jays (Kevin Gausman): Anthony Santander ($5,700), Ryan O'Hearn ($4,200), Cedric Mullins ($3,700)
The Orioles will face former Oriole Gausman on Thursday, though few members of this lineup were around to be his teammate. Gausman has never managed to pull out of the tailspin that has torpedoed his 2024 campaign. Mostly, he's been done in by his poor performance at home. The righty has a 6.39 ERA and 1.5 HR/9 rate in Toronto. While Gausman's lefty/righty stats don't offer any clear direction to lean, the Orioles largely lack in righties who can hit right-handed pitchers. Thus, this is a stack of two lefties and a switch hitter.
Santander is the switch hitter, and he has a .847 OPS versus righties. He also has been on fire, slugging .644 over the last three weeks and setting a new personal best with 34 home runs. O'Hearn is used exclusively against righties, but he has a .817 OPS in those matchups. On top of that, he has a .881 OPS on the road. Mullins has gotten progressively worse since his remarkable 2021 campaign, but he's still viable against a righty for DFS purposes. He has 11 homers and 19 stolen bases, and he has a .737 OPS against right-handers.
